Verizon's old phone network will stick around for connected devices

MetroPCS shuts off its old phone network on June 21st

Samsung U470: an X830 for Verizon?

We've gotta hand it to Verizon here; The Network's still got a bit of a reputation as a stodgy, old-school carrier that eschews style for reliability, but they've been working their rumps off the past couple years trying to shake that image with devices like the US-exclusive version of the Chocolate and the unusual VX9400. Still, though, we would've never expected a US carrier to pick up a variant of Samsung's wild X830, an ultra-narrow, swiveling music phone that isn't the easiest device in the world to use, but sure looks cool. phoneArena is reporting that the pictured device is the Samsung U470, a handset obviously in the X830's lineage, with a Verizon release planned for 2008. Features are said to include a camera, 220 x 128 display, A2DP, microSD slot, and if we had to guess, some rather healthy quantity of internal Flash. Mercifully, Samsung has opted for a traditional three-wide numeric keypad here instead of the tricky two-wide type used on the original, so we're pretty stoked that this one could be surprisingly usable despite its diminutive dimensions. Stay tuned!

*Verizon has acquired AOL, Engadget's parent company. However, Engadget maintains full editorial control, and Verizon will have to pry it from our cold, dead hands.